1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein relates to sweeping and lifting devices particularly suitable for sweeping and gathering cut grass, leaves and the like from areas such as lawns.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known devices, whether self-propelled, tractor drawn, or hand moved, are generally provided with a rotating brush which gathers cut grass, leaves or other trash and throws it into a collecting receptacle to be emptied later. In some known machines, the swept matter is introduced into the lower part of the collecting receptacle so that the receptacle is filled from the bottom up. Filling in such a manner makes it difficult, if not impossible, to completely fill the receptacle. To overcome this problem, these known machines were usually large, heavy and complicated, especially the trailer-drawn ones. Other known gathering devices made better use of the volume of the collecting receptacle by filling it from the top using a chain or pneumatics. However, these machines were complicated and expensive to manufacture and the use of an elevator or pneumatic system increased the size, weight and complexity of the device.
The object of the present invention is to obviate these drawbacks through the use of a relatively unbulky sweeping and lifting device which introduces the swept matter into the upper part of the collecting receptacle, thus permitting complete filling of the receptacle and its most efficient utilization.